Paris: Police have detained six people in the Paris region suspected of plotting terrorist attacks in France.

The Paris prosecutor's office said that the six are being questioned by anti-terrorist investigators, and are believed to have been part of a radical Islamic terrorist cell.

Prosecutor's office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre says the suspects were detained on Monday and remained in custody till Tuesday. They can be held up to four days under France's anti-terrorism laws.

France has been on higher alert for potential attacks since French troops entered Mali earlier this year, to push out al-Qaida-linked extremists who had seized much of the West African country and have threatened France and Europe.